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DD has just finished her Spanish exchange. She survived, largely by meeting up with friends and their Spanish exchanges during any free time.

She has been offered the opportunity to do a two week exchange with a school in the US. She would go to their school in October, and her exchange would come to us in June 2013 for two weeks. DD would be on her own at the school in US (ie with her exchange, but with no other girls from her school), and the US student would have noone she knew during her time with us. I have told DD that it would be different from the Spanish exchange, in that she and the US student would speak the same language!

What are your thoughts on this as a concept? OH and I are quite keen that DD should apply (not necessarily a given that she would get chosen to go), but DD is being a bit "unsure." I really wouldn't pressurise her to do something she was unhappy with, conceptually, but she still can't give me any valid reason.

Absolutely - American high school is really fascinating / familiar from all the TV shows and she'lll have a lovely time. Weirdly enough I met my husband when I joined my best friend in the US for a holiday (she was there for a year-long exchange in secondary school). So she might meet her future other half, too (though you'd probably rather she didn't meet someone on the other side of the world!).

It sounds a fantastic opportunity. I had a year at school in the US due to my dad's job and it was a great experience. There aren't the language barriers that other countries bring and the fact she knows Spanish is a bonus.

Absolutely - American high school is really fascinating / familiar from all the TV shows and she'lll have a lovely time. Weirdly enough I met my husband when I joined my best friend in the US for a holiday (she was there for a year-long exchange in secondary school). So she might meet her future other half, too (though you'd probably rather she didn't meet someone on the other side of the world!).

Absolutely - American high school is really fascinating / familiar from all the TV shows and she'lll have a lovely time. Weirdly enough I met my husband when I joined my best friend in the US for a holiday (she was there for a year-long exchange in secondary school). So she might meet her future other half, too (though you'd probably rather she didn't meet someone on the other side of the world!).

One of my elder sons did a whole year at high school in America, in Sacramento, on an exchange scheme. This was in his last year at school here. I can't remember the name of it, but it organised everything. We just had to pay
He had a wonderful time out there, and graduated with all the other students. He stayed with an American family, and they were wonderful, showing him round and taking him in as their own son while he was there.

Even now, 12 years or so down the line, he still has very fond memories of his time there, and is still in contact with a lot of the students he met.

It will be a fantastic experience for your daughter Leeds, I am sure she will love it.

Do you mind me asking what he did when he came home, MM? I mean, I would assume that a year spent in an American school would look well on his CV if he was going straight into a job, but might be difficult with a university application. In DD's case, we are only talking two weeks so not really on the same scale at all, but that is a fantastic thing for your son to have done.

I can see why you don't want to push her and in her shoes at her age (14/15 when she goes?) I'd be unsure about being so far away from home and knowing absolutely no-one, even if I did speak the same language!

Do the exchange students get a chance to communicate before they are placed? (skype etc?) That might help a bit.

Wonderful opportunity for her though, and 2 weeks isn't very long at all is it?

That's sort of how I feel, Ursh. I would feel so much more confident about pushing her if some of her friends would be there too.

They have to submit their applications before the end of the summer holiday, and the Head selects the four chosen ones during the first week back. So, even if DD decides that she would like to go, she may not actually be picked. And I have no idea as to whether there will be no problem because only two have applied, or whether they might be choosing from ninety.

I guess if she applies, and is successful, the girls would have about 7 weeks to get to know each other on Skype/FB.

It was a difficult time for my son when he came home Leeds. He had lived a wonderful life out there with everyone thinking him fantastic, so he came home with a bit of an inflated ego, expecting life to carry on as it had in America. But he came back with a bump to earth in having to find a job and get back to a normal life.

It was hard for a good few months, he didn't want to go to uni, he wanted to live in Amercia, which wasn't an option as we couldn't afford it. He did drift for a long time, but he eventually sorted himself and I got the son back that I had before he went away.

This is not to say it wasn't a good experience, it was, it just turned his head for a bit.

For your daughter to have 2 weeks out there, I am sure she will be fine and come home with wonderful stories.

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